A New Life
by shadowraven373
Summary: Disgusted by the totalitarian rule imposed by Callaghan and fed up of his unfulfilled life, Alex, a 16 year old guy deeply concerned about his survival in the future, finds himself wishing for the life of a runner, and soon it becomes a reality.
1. Chapter 1

Another day would pass and would mean another trip through the never ending cycle of my life. I'd get up, go to school, head to the mall, go home, and sleep. Words couldn't describe how pointless life felt, how empty my existence felt when I started to notice the pattern. Often I had dreamed of a life outside such a routine, but I knew what that meant, and I knew what I'd be leaving behind if I went ahead and followed my dreams. No, I was confined to late night revision, school work and snacks at my desk as I worked through sheets of paper. Every now and then I'd check my Facebook in hopes of a conversation, something to take me away from that routine, but it never happened. Everyone I knew was stuck in the same routine, but it seemed as if I was the only one who had grown to hate it. But that wasn't all; I had grown up hating every aspect of both my life, and the city I had been spending my life in. Unjustified paranoia and warped images of a purged utopia swept the government, for as long as Callaghan was in office, we were all robbed of our privacy.  
>Nobody ever knew that I, Alex, a normal guy, wanted to become a runner, but that's because they couldn't know, not even my best friend. I couldn't tell Abby, not in a million years, it wasn't a matter of trust, but rather the world I live in. I knew if I told her, that Callaghan would know within the next 5 seconds. CCTV covered every square meter of concrete at the surface, microphones littered the street, more advanced ways of keeping an eye on everyone had cropped up, for years now, they could tell who you were, and where you were, down to the last centimetre.<p>

Callaghan could hunt you down, could read every text, listen to every phone call, read your web history and even hear any and every conversation in the outside world. Nobody seemed to mind, the changes were gradual of course. But it disturbed me, it disturbed me to know that privacy only existed within my mind, and perhaps one day, they might even break that barrier. That feeling in my throat, a combination of fear and resentment towards my own government, had been the centre of my thoughts for many weeks.  
>It used to be that I simply didn't like it, but as time passed, and my life continued to get even more boring and uneventful, that "simply didn't like it" turned into "simply sickens me". Anyway, the thoughts come later, this was the life I chose, and where it began.<p>

I woke up, one arm under my pillow, one leg outstretched, the other half of me curled up, I slept in a weird position. My phone vibrated on my desk, I lifted my head from the pillow and saw the glow of the LCD sitting by my PC. A text from Abby "Meet me by NEM after business studies". I didn't bother with a reply, Abby had a tendency to shorten things, so I just had to guess she meant the New Eden Mall, which was still unfinished, why would she want to go to an empty mall? I didn't dwell on it, and so my day began.

I lived in a spacious apartment with my parents and younger sister, both of my parents were out 24/7 working, so usually it was just me and my sister, after all, my parents only really used this place for sleeping, conversation was rare. I made some instant noodles and sat at the table. My younger sister Tabby dragged herself out of her room, turning on the TV. As I stirred the noodles, I could hear something about electoral candidate Robert Pope. I sat by the TV, "Electoral Candidate Robert Pope died last month, supporters still in shock" flashed up on the bottom news banner.

"Oh yeah, he died, gun shot or something? That cop did it, right?" I asked Tabby. "Yeah, I think so, she was on trial not long ago, no idea where she is now" she said without a care. "Yeah... Probably..." I mumbled. Robert Pope was my inspiration, because he was the only person to challenge Mayor Callaghan politically, the only one who would run for mayor without fear of the consequences. Now he was dead, and I couldn't help but feel as if there was more to this. I didn't have time to dwell on it though; I threw my spare cash in my bag and a couple of my textbooks and headed out the door. Tabby had her half-term holidays, lucky her, a lot longer than any I'd hope to get.  
>Heading down the road, I saw the bus leaving the stop "Shit, did I wake up late?" I mumbled to myself. I was wearing my new trainers, and felt confident, so I ran after the bus, beating it to the next stop as I jumped over any and everything in my way. I boarded the bus, looking out at the rooftops as I waited for it to pass my school.<p>

My lessons passed by quickly, it was one of those days where by the end lesson I'd look at my phone and say to myself "Is it really the end of the day? I had my last lesson of the day, Business studies in the IT room on 5th floor. With my coursework done, this was a perfect opportunity to sort out my files and chat. In a rush to save documents, I found that most of my work either carried the name Untitled or akljhlhlhkljnsafd and this kind of crap littered my school documents file. I spent that lesson cleaning up my work as me and Abby texted, rooms apart about our holidays that were coming soon.

It was the end of the day, and I made my way to the New Eden Mall which sat just half a mile away, I crossed financial district, but on the way, I noticed something strange, at the top, on the roof of an apartment complex, I saw a person, who shaped the empty world above the streets like their personal playground, a girl, jumping from roof to roof, keeping a yellow bag close to her. The law told me to report her, I knew what she was, but I couldn't, I couldn't rob the life of someone that I desired, and so, I turned a blind eye, I broke the law, and kept going towards the Mall. I spotted Abby, red tank top, black trousers, dark, flowing brown hair, yeah, it was Abby alright. She was in the empty area outside the Mall entrance on her phone as usual.

She pocketed her retro-styled Nokia and turned to me, her red messenger bag sat beside her on the bench. "Hey, I brought pizza" she pulled out the square box and we started a conversation about school. I took a slice, Abby then said to me "You spend way too much time thinking about school" I took a bite and responded confidently, "Well, if I didn't, I'd get poor grades, then what? Working a kiosk in the Mall? No, I have to keep my mind on school work, for my future".

Abby smirked a little "Didn't it ever occur to you that you need experience for a job? And a job to get the experience you d need?" I was going to come out with some sort of answer to that, something to prove her wrong, but I had nothing, and so I just sighed. "Look Alex, you and I both know what you really want to do", this shocked me, and I turned to her with wide eyes. "Don't worry, I won't say a word, but I see it, every lesson, when you have that little bit of free time, you are there, staring out the window, looking towards the rooftops".

I looked down at my pizza slice "It's that obvious, is it?" I said, with a bit of sadness in my tone. Abby followed up my statement, "No, not really, only someone like me, your closest friend, would notice". "Yeah, you got that right, but you know what it'd mean if I went ahead with it, right? I'd be abandoning all I worked for". Abby checked the time on her phone, "Yeah, but you know what it's like, all you work for will land you in an unfulfilling job, somewhere you don't want to be" she said. I looked at the floor, frowning a little, accepting what she had to say with a simple "yeah".

"Look, you are my best friend, and I know when you are unhappy, so go do what you want to do", I smiled at what she had to say, she treaded around words carefully so as to not alert CCTV. "I might be killed, you know" I said with a smirk. "Oh I know, but I know you, you are too smart, too good at what you do to die doing it, and I know that to die feeling fulfilled is a better way to live than live out your life miserably into your old age, so you go do what you want to do, and I won t say a word" she finished that sentence with a smile, I could only smile back, and so, I left, we went in opposite directions, she had to get home, and I had to prepare, I headed back home, breaking into a light jog, before I knew it, I was running full pace down the street, through the doors and into the elevator, heading up, I put my key through the lock and went straight to my room.

I emptied my bag of my school equipment, leaving behind those pencils, that calculator, and those books, to fill it with my clothes, my fingerless gloves, and anything I had that I thought would be useful, my sister Tabby came into my room and saw me packing away, "What are you doing?" she said, with a worried tone, I turned around and looked her dead in the eye, "I'm doing what I should've done a long time ago". She looked at me, eyes wide; I was wearing my favourite trainers, my black cargo pants and my plain blue t-shirt. "Oh no, no no no, you aren't.", I looked at her without emotion, interrupting her disapproval, "Oh I am, this is what I have to do".

Tabby sighed and sat by my bed, "alright, do what you know is right". I looked at her with shock, "Tabs? You aren't going to report me? But if they find out-" she interrupted me, "It's a risk I'm willing to take, you and I don't talk much, I know that, you know that, but I know that you are disgusted by the lack of privacy and totalitarian rule imposed by Callaghan, and you know what? I share the same opinion, I never thought that this would be what you'd want to do, but if this is what you feel you have to do, I'll support you". I smiled and gave her a hug; I finished my packing, and climbed out of my bedroom window into the dark sky and onto the fire escape stairway. She looked out from the window waving goodbye to me, I smiled and waved back, so here I was, on the rooftops, a new world.


	2. Chapter 2

It was cold, very cold, but I enjoyed the crisp fresh breeze, it felt different to the polluted surface of the city, it felt refreshing, and so, I kept going, I made my way across rooftops, jumping over A/C Units and I kept going, as fast as I could, I wasn't very good, but who could blame me, I hadn't been trained, I was new to this, but I enjoyed it. I kept going, kept jumping, kept running, until I found myself on top of some buildings in financial district. It was then that I saw the same girl, black tank top with a couple white stripes, those red tabis and the yellow bag beside her white cargo pants, which were tied up at each ankle, probably to stop her tripping I figured.

I made my way towards her; she was with another woman in a red tank top with tied back blonde hair. I could hear their conversation from the distance. "I don't know Cel, you betrayed us, and you nearly got Merc killed!" Who was Merc? I wondered, "Look Faith, I am not asking to be forgiven, but just understand this, they had me at gun point, either kill Pope or be killed, if I knew that cop was your sister, and that things would escalate to this, would I have done it? No, but I had to survive, what would you have done in my position?" the blonde one said. The other one, Faith, sighed, "Alright, I can empathise, but it'll be difficult to trust you again, after all that has happened-" Cel interrupted "Someone's here" Faith looked up "A runner?" Cel smirked "Might be, never seen him before". They noticed me, so I ran to them. Cel looked at Faith and back to me, "And who are you exactly? . I smiled "a new runner, name's Alex" Faith and Cel looked at each other. Do you know what you are getting yourself into?" asked Faith, "Believe me, I know, I have my reasons" Faith nodded in approval, "Good enough for us, I'm Celeste, that there is Faith", Cel shook my hand, Faith stared at me, "How do we not know he's a spy? PK stuff? He might be part of Icarus" said Faith with a worried and aggressive tone.

Cel looked back at Faith, "Come on Faith, look at him, it's not like Callaghan is recruiting teenagers" Faith looked at me, as did Celeste. "Alright, you have a point, let's get back to Merc's" Faith said, turning on the balls of her feet, she started running, Cel followed, signalling for me to keep up. I followed their every move, executing them poorly, but I didn't care, I was where I belonged. We crossed many rooftops until we finally reached an old A/C Unit, but it was hollowed out on the inside. We dropped through the hole on the top and into the glowing room, filled with computer equipment, empty pizza boxes and a red couch with a coffee table to the left. By the computer sat a guy, probably in his early 30's "Hey Merc, we brought a friend" said Faith.

Merc turned to face the three of us, his arm in a sling, he had tattoos on each arm and close shaved hair. "Haven't seen you before, new runner?" he said, Faith responded "Yeah, his name's Alex, he found us in financial district". Merc looked at me and back at Faith "He'll need training, Cel, if you could?" Cel nodded and Faith interrupted the two, "It's late, no point training in the dark, how s about we wait for morning?" We all nodded in agreement, Faith showed me to the area behind the computers and couch. There was a collection of pillows and a few old mattresses spaced out from each other. "Faith pointed to the one at the end near the vents "You'll be sleeping there, you should rest. We have a lot of training to get through".

With that, I fell asleep in my clothes on the mattress, waking up the next morning, the light shined through the vents; I climbed down to the second part of the A/C unit where it integrated into the building, I assumed it cost too much to move it, so the company probably left it here, with no clue as to what it was being used for. I found a makeshift shower; I pulled out some toiletries from my bag and freshened up. Afterwards I changed into my other blue t-shirt and grey cargo pants. I put my trainers back on and headed back up to the main part. I said hello to Merc, who appeared to be tracking something with the computer, and then I climbed out onto the rooftops, welcomed by shining sunlight, blue skies and the warmth of the fresh air.

Cel and Faith were by the edge, sipping their coffees. Cel turned to me, "Hey, ready to train?" I nodded in approval, I was so excited. Celeste took me to a building site; we stopped by the edge of the rooftops. "Weather problems stopped any work being done on this building, all this stuff has been sitting here for weeks" said Cel. I looked ahead at the collection of planks and bricks, doors and stacked boxes, cranes and other such things. "These are the new training grounds, head to that building on the left, then meet me by that unfinished roof not far ahead, oh, and before I forget, here" Cel tossed me an earpiece device, "It's a comms unit, we use it to keep in touch, and so that our trackers can give us directions". I put the device on my right ear and left for the building she told me to go to. When I got there, I heard static, then Merc s voice "Cel is just ahead, do what you can to get there".

I sprinted forward, limping across the gap between the 2 buildings, sliding under the protruding vents and finished it by vaulting over the stairs, I met a hard landing, as I did not roll properly, but I was alright, I then ran and jumped for the building where Cel was waiting. "This is where we trained Faith when she was out of commission" Celeste mentioned. "Out of commission?" I asked inquisitively, "She had a hard fall, put her out of work for a while, so we put her through this course to get her back on her feet when it all healed" Cel explained. She went on to say "Now follow me, copy my movements exactly if you can".

Cel ran in the opposite direction, across a large protruding plank and jumped to another building, she scaled the large fence and stood there waiting for me. I copied her movements, although not as well as I hoped, I had succeeded, putting very little thought into consequences. I scaled the fence, although it took me time as I lost momentum. Cel then ran across another protruding plank, it was upstanding, and she ran across it, crossing the gap. I froze, the gap was massive, and what if I slipped? But still, I saw Celeste do it, so I put my faith into it. I ran, leaping onto the plank and running along, I ended up hanging off the edge of the building, but I heaved myself up, I then continued forward, my blood pumping. I vaulted the vent shaft and crashed through the door, Celeste then walked across a beam of metal separating 2 buildings, I froze once more, but I went for it, not looking down, and I succeeded.

I followed this by scaling the wall, a string of jumps, twists and shimmying, until I found myself at what Cel used as a zip wire. She went down, wearing her gloves, protecting her hands, she dropped onto a stack of boxes, landing without injury or pain, I copied, but landed with some stinging, but still, I carried on, we continued to jump, to climb, and springboard ourselves to new levels. Then, we stopped in an open space. "Merc wants me to train you for fighting, you never know when you might need it, Icarus may be sparse, but they are around". Celeste asked me to aim for the hands, I gave it my best, punching and kicking, sliding and attacking. "Okay, good job, now for weapon disarms, they carry short-range tasers so don't get too close unless it's absolutely necessary" I tried to take the gun of Celeste, but I was pushed back. I tried again, and this time, I succeeded, I tossed the unloaded gun back to Cel, and we tried again with new methods and tactics.

Merc tapped into both our comms units "Okay, good job on the training, but we have work to do, Cel, Alex, head back to base, I have a job for each of you". I was so excited, a proper job! But then I thought about what I was getting myself into, but it didn't matter, my family wasn't much of a family, as much as I cared for Tabby, and my school work no longer mattered to me. I ran back with Cel to the A/C unit. Celeste was told to head to a building not far from West Arland district and pick up some important documents to be transferred by another runner, Merc said it was a good way to throw off anyone tracking the documents if they couldn't track which runner they were with. I was told to head to an apartment complex not far from my home and deliver a few files; I took the yellow messenger bag, followed Merc's directions and made my way there, crossing rooftops, vaulting whatever got in my way and eventually reaching the target.

A man in his late 30s took the documents from me; he checked out according to Merc's description, I was given $200, Merc patched in "Remember that I get half!" he said, in a joking tone. "Wait, you mean I just earned $100?" I said, slightly confused, "You sure did kiddo, anyway, you can either come back to base or do what you want to do". "Thanks Merc, I think I'll stay out for a bit, you know?" I said, "Sure thing" he replied. I headed to my apartment, and climbed through my unlocked window, as usual, the parents were out on some sort of business trip, I saw them maybe 4 times a year. It was always hotels and meetings for them, I saw them at Christmas sometimes, but as far as I was concerned, they were just the high earners in my family, who forgot that we exist, and simply pay the bills. Tabby heard me enter, and I was welcomed by a big hug. "It's good to see you" she said with a big smile, "It's good to see you too" I said, returning the smile. We chatted for a while, I made pasta and we sat at the couch, she was filled with so many questions about my new life as a runner, I was happy to answer them, comfortable in my own home, the one place where Callaghan couldn't hear or see into.

I told her I should leave soon, she gave me one last hug and told me to keep in touch as best I could, and with that, I climbed back onto the rooftops, heading back to the A/C unit. It was about 2 in the afternoon, so I headed down to the pizza place; I got a plain cheese pizza and brought it back, me, Cel and Faith each had a couple slices. Merc said he'd have his later, something about matured cheese or something. I had done my first job, earned real money, I could make a living for myself, and everything seemed to be going perfect for me. But it wouldn't be long before I would reach the harder parts of being a runner, and I knew it.


End file.
